Urukai lay upon a simple bed. To his surprise, he felt a little better now that the Lord had placed a proper Seal on him. His Soul Weapon would still come if his life was in peril. Yet, he did not want to do anything much. He lay there, somewhere between worlds, thinking that he was content to be imprisoned for a few centuries.
Something radical had happened; Ragus Tradio had fled Lukedonia. Together with the others. Urukai knew that they would never forgive him, since he had first sided with them and then betrayed them. None of them had had an eye gouged out, though, nor were they being slowly consumed by some unknown something bad enough even the Lord couldn't pull it out.
He sensed them coming, and tried to put on a disgruntled expression, but he lost his grip on it when the door opened. There he was! There was the Noblesse, himself! He was so…perfect. Everything about him was so elegant. He had a very troubled, sad expression, too. It was the most alive Urukai had ever seen him. He moved forward, proudly, and stood there at the side of the bed; it was clear that he was not used to being so active, and he was a little awkward about it. Yet he had stirred a step and left his house for the sake of someone else. For the Werewolf Lord, Urukai thought, and possibly for the Lord…definitely not for them, though.
"Urukai." Cadis Etrama Di Raizel spoke! "It is good that you are all right."
Stunned, tears rising in his eye, Urukai felt his lip tremble. The Noblesse had just said his name, and not with disgust, but in a genuinely pleased tone. That, even though he was a traitor, it was good that he was alive. The Noblesse never lied, since he was at such a level that he did not need to. Urokai felt that, because he had little left to lose, he could just believe this person. He could not even think of anything to say to this person, and the angst of both loving someone very much, and fearing them, and resenting them, made his throat seal off anyway.
Beyond the Noblesse, there was another form. He had held himself back for this long, but now he came into the room and stood there at Raizel-nim's side. His blonde hair was usually loose, but now it was tied back and he was carrying a black case in one hand; his expression was troubled.
Irritated, Urukai gritted his teeth. He had too many things to say to Frankenstein, but he could not pick one above the rest, so it just came out as a noise. Which inspired no reaction from the human, something that was probably the most irksome thing about the man!
"You know, I'm aware of why you do not like me." Frankenstein abruptly snapped, heaving a sigh. "However, I think you've rather got the wrong idea about me. I am a human. And I am contracted to Raizel-nim. But if you have some problem with me personally, then that is about you and not about Raizel-nim." He had the audacity to say that. "So, for his sake, put up with it. In any case, right now, I am here as a doctor. Because regardless of what side you take, you are dying." He said it like that. "Which might give you some insight if you let it."
"Insight?" Urukai quipped. "So, the Lord asked you to come. Because of the eye that you ruined." He said it accusingly, while he could. "Is there even anything to do at this point? Ragus said there wasn't. He went to human countries, and he studied alchemy just like you. For a long time, actually. He said it was hopeless and gave me drugs."
"Yes, I've heard quite a bit about that." Frankenstein set the bag on a nearby table. From within, he took some simple instruments, laying them out on a cloth. "As you may know, Alchemy is the science of transmuting one thing into another. For instance, can gold really be produced from lead? To be honest, the answer to that is 'no'. Obviously." He rolled his eyes. "Mutation is not strictly speaking a bad thing. Werewolves are, from one point of view, a type of mutation. They mutate their bodies at will. So what Tradio is doing, is attempting to force humans and Nobles to mutate." He shrugged, looking over at his Master, then at the Lord…who was standing in the doorway and staying well back to give them space in the small room. "Well, I may sound offensive putting it this way, but that, by itself, is simply none of my business. Since, I, too, have experimented on humans and nobles; not to any great harm, though."
Urukai looked at the Lord, impressed that he was so calm about it. Testing it out, to see if he was yelled at, Urokai spoke; "He also mixes stuff, though. Turns people into puppets." He shuddered. "Seriously, it's kind of disgusting."
"Well, all medical knowledge is gained through trial and error," Frankenstein replied, blandly. "What I am curious about, is what the end goal is. Alchemy is one thing, but if he has no specific goal, for instance, enhancing strength, or lengthening the lifespan, or even turning lead into gold, then what he is actually doing, is not 'alchemy' but rather 'torture'."
Urokai blinked, looking at Frankenstein for a moment. "And you say you don't do that to people? Even though all the humans say you do?"
Frankenstein looked startled, now, and his somewhat brisk demeanour seemed to affect hurt rather than pique. "The experiments I carried out were to cure diseases, Urokai. Unfortunately, I can't save everyone." He turned away, his hair swishing. "As for my powers, if you must know, I have never used humans for that. All of my dangerous experiments were tested on myself."
The Lord's brows pinched a little, but he did not speak or fully enter the room. The Noblesse was unfazed, of course, and he must have known it all along. It was the reason that the Noblesse had chosen Frankenstein; simple, unassuming, lacking that great ambition that seemed to waft around Frankenstein like wings. He was that kind of human.
Feeling rather jaded, Urokai closed his eyes. It was more proof that he had been fed lies. He had needed someone to hate for his lot in life, because he could not bring himself to hate the Noblesse or the Lord. Resentment was different from hate. He respected them! And now, he understood better, why they respected Frankenstein.
He still didn't like the man, but that was fine. He didn't have to. He could simply 'stop caring', and it was a relief, he had to admit. Taking a deep breath, Urokai licked his parched lips; he was so thirsty it was making him dizzy. "What are you going to do?" He asked, softly.
"All medicine starts with the basics." Frankenstein turned back, his golden brows pinched. "I need to start by taking a look at the affected area. Well, I'll just put my hand over the seal to start out." He reached out, with just his gloved hand, and lightly lay his palm over the eyepatch. "There is definitely something moving around in there." He muttered, his frown becoming deeper. "Can you tell me when this began and how it progressed?"
"Well, you hit me with that black shard. It cut into my eye, but normally, we can heal that. By the time I got it looked at, though, my eye was shrivelled up. I was going to let it heal and then have a glass eye put in, but that black stuff is in there. It's sticky." He shuddered. "I can't say it hurt at first, but it would move around. Without the seal in place, I would have gone crazy."
"Urokai, I hate to rub salt in your wounds, but you essentially did 'go crazy'." Frankenstein leaned back, his arms folded. "You are not in a normal mental state, anyway. Agitation, restlessness, hostility, paranoia, moods of manic depression, fixation upon things that are otherwise of no consequence. Those are all signs that something is very wrong." He put a hand to his chin. "Do you have any other symptoms?"
"I can't control my temperature," Urokai admitted. "I don't eat much anymore, either, and I get dizzy. Lately, I've been blacking out, just for a few seconds. If I even manage to sleep, I have terrible dreams, but I can't remember them."
"Sounds like anaemia to me." Frankenstein had switched into full doctor mode, and wrote out every answer precisely on a notepad. "Hmm. Urukai, you're going to baulk, I'm certain, but may I have some blood? I would like to look at it."
"Huh?" Urukai looked at him, uncomprehending for a moment. "My blood?" He asked, lifting his eyebrows.
"Yes, I need to look at your blood. Oh, a thimbleful is enough." He gestured to the tools he had brought along. "It's a new toy I've rigged up. That thing that looks rather like a catapult, is what I use to examine molecules. Blood is comprised of cells, basically, which clump together in various ways. Even among humans, there are different blood types. Nobles are far more complex, but it follows the same basic model as all other red-blooded creatures on earth. You are hardly aliens." He shook his head. "I've examined Nobles before, so I already have a comparison."
Reeling, Urukai was so stunned he could not find a reason to say no. He was also a little curious. The idea of giving up blood did not really offend him. It was a very simple procedure, too, and required no extra drama. He was sat up with cushioned to support his back and head, which was treating him very gently for a traitor. Frankenstein took some time to look at the blood, smeared of a little glass plaque, before coming over.
"Urukai…" Frankenstein stood next to where the Noblesse had seated himself at the bedside. The Lord was still leaning on the doorpost. "Do you drink blood?" He asked it straight out, causing even the Lord to blanch slightly. "Human or Noble or even from animals?"
Startled, Urokai shrugged. "I tried it out. Why? I don't have a contract with anyone."
Frankenstein bit his lips, taking a deep breath. "First, I think curing you will be a simple process. Your diagnosis is not good, but you if you do what I prescribe, you will survive. I will call on the Lord to just put up with that process." He shrugged. "Since he requested that I examine you, and thereby gave his unspoken permission to treat you." He spoke flippantly on it. "This condition is not just caused by your eye. That is likely a result of a condition you have always had; and I make that distinction, Urokai, because it sets you apart and partially legitimizes your irrational behaviour. Only partially, though." He drew a chair over, to seat himself, and beckoned for the Lord to join them.
Once the Lord was seated, Frankenstein checked on him with a wary eye, and finding him fit to listen, nodded. "It may try your patience to listen to me, Urokai, but I assure you, this is also for my master and the Lord's benefit. I discovered this while I was investigating mutants. Mutants run rampant because they are mentally abnormal; but, what causes that? There is a bacillus in the blood of Nobles, which causes that mutation in humans. When a human gives their blood to a noble, that is a binding that, I believe, causes a telepathic link. When a Noble bites someone, though, the bacillus in their saliva is forcibly injected into the human, causing complex metabolic mutation…nine times out of ten, that 'pathetic creature' will devolve." He lifted a hand. "That bacillus is hyper-prevalent in you. I can see that your fangs are longer than most, and together with your other symptoms, I think that ninety percent of what is wrong with you, is that your blood is starving."
"I'm mutating? Into that?!" Urokai felt that, in that case, he would just kill himself and be done with it.
"Hm? Did I say that?" Frankenstein frowned at him. "I said that that component is hyper-prevalent. It means you naturally have more of it. If you bite a human, that human will mutate very quickly, so be careful about that. That bacillus is naturally occurring in you so you won't turn into anything. It's just that, because it's gotten a bit thick, your blood has nothing to eat; well, I guess to put it in extremely simplistic terms, your blood is watery." He lifted a hand. "So, you need more."
"And my eye?" Urokai asked, frowning at him.
"That, hm, I think you have a darkling in it." Frankenstein pursed his lips. "Darklings are, hm, well…a type of homunculus. They are created by blood or flesh and wrought with power. Dark Spear is not anything like that, it's more like an evil spirit. Darklings are organic in substance and normally hide inside one's clothes or a bottle…given that your eye socket was empty and your cornea damaged beyond repair, I think you ended up creating a darkling from your blood and flesh, which is living in there."
"Darkling? Homunculus?" Urukai frowned. "What is that?"
"Hmm. To be honest, I don't know." Frankenstein lifted a hand. "I call them that because there is no other name for them. Homunculus literally means 'little man'; the idea is that some miniature life form can be created and will take on 'that form'. They normally exist in some sealed environment like that. Humans only very rarely make them, but they can. Of course, anyone with an ounce of 'power' and some extra flesh can make one." Frankenstein licked his lips, his eyes lowering sadly. "Well, not me. You've never heard of this before, I take it? This is really very curious to me." He turned to the Lord. "Lord, do you know about this?"
"I have never seen anything like what is happening to Urukai." He replied, his arms folded.
"What are Darklings, though?!" Urukai demanded, still not able to draw anything to mind. It felt strange, the idea that something like that could exist without his knowing about it.
"They are what you want them to be. If you want them to be a curse, they will become a curse. If you want them to be a pet, they will be a pet." Frankenstein shrugged. "I can't make one, I've tried. My energy devours but does not create. That is because Dark Spear is aware of its own existence." He gave a little sigh. "But you are a Noble, and you have a soul weapon. That excess Pranic energy should, by rights, be even greater than that of those vampires which are created with the same bacillus. Especially in your case, Urukai."
"Why Urukai in particular?" The Lord asked, quickly. "You suddenly start talking about vampires, but, those are mutants. Urukai has never made a contract with anyone."
Frankenstein sighed, heavily. "Will you please listen to what I am telling you? I spoke on this just a moment ago. There is this component that causes mutation." He looked over the ceiling. "It isn't like he's a Zombie. Scaring me like that, telling me Dark Spear was involved. This is basically a natural phenomenon, that, to be blunt, requires very little in the way of treatment. You just need some blood. And not by biting, either; this constant obsession with biting is why mutants happen! No, I did a transfusion between Muzaka and his daughter and their fine. Obviously, anyone with the same blood type can donate some blood!" He rolled his eyes again.
"I'm long over that." Urokai retorted. "But, in my eye right now, there is something like that?!" He put a hand to the empty socket, removing the eyepatch and seal, out of nervousness. If there was something like that in there, he wanted it out! "There was some kind of ethereal black thing that came out on my fingers."
The Lord gained his feet, his face becoming worried. "Urokai?!"
Pushing his first two fingers up under the sagging eyelid, Urokai felt at the 'emptiness' in there. As he pulled his fingers out again, some sticky black thing followed. It felt quite horrible, dragging it out, but he did not want it in there anymore! It was quite a bit thicker than last time, and it plopped onto the bedsheets, where it undulated and writhed about. It looked horrible, like some kind of insect, but it had no recognisable shape.
The Noblesse actually flinched a little, staring at him it. "It is calling out." He muttered. "Why are you afraid, Urokai? Did you not call for this many times? I cannot sense any evil intent. Only that there is some sense of loneliness surrounding it. As if it were an unwanted child."
Covering the empty eye socket, which now felt very cold, Urokai did not know what that meant. An unwanted child? No child of his would ever be unwanted. He would have liked to have some, anyway, although he hadn't. The thing produced stringy armatures, gripping at the cloth around it, and trying to crawl up his chest to return to the eye socket.
Grabbing it in his hand, he found that it was strangely warm and soft; it did not feel anywhere near as disgusting as it looked, and he could grip it in his hand tightly. "This is…" He muttered, breathlessly. "…my eye?"
"Well," Frankenstein turned to peel off his gloves. "It is yours anyway. What you do with that thing is up to you. It is…something you created."
Dumbfounded, Urokai felt his mood shift. Too many radical things had happened to him, but, it was not like he hated it. He felt a bit disgusted by it, but that was because it looked like something that should have been underwater…or left inside the body. His headache had improved a bit, but he felt incredibly weakened, and he decided to leave the 'thing' aside for the moment. "Well, give me a bottle or something." He muttered, absently. "I'm certainly not putting it back where it came from!"